DIY Dorothy Draper Chests

Description: 1) I bought 2 Rast dressers from IKEA, and assembled the tables, except for the drawers.

2) I primed the ‘body’ of the dresser {assembled} and the fronts of the doors and then sprayed them using RustOleum’s black lacquer spray. I did 2 coats to get good coverage.

3) I took inspiration pics from Dorothy Draper chests online, and blew them up to be able to draw the shape of the inlay on a piece of transparent paper that I cut to be the same size as each drawer. Here is where the measure-twice-cut-once rule really applies! I cut the stencil using an art Xacto knife, leaving gaps so that the centre of the stencil stayed attached to the outside. I secured the stencil onto the drawer using painter’s tape.

4) Using Liquidtex’s Iridescent Rich Gold heavy body acrylic paint, I carefully painted on the design. I removed the stencil after allowing the paint to dry for about 1 hour. I taped off the gaps that remained (due to the stencil) and filled those in. I let this dry over night and then went over the gold free-hand to make it even thicker afterwards.

5) I then put the drawers together on the built shelf, and put in some beautiful bronze ring pulls from Lee Valley Tools.

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Jules IKEAHacker "I am Jules, the engine behind IKEAHackers and the one who keeps this site up and running. My mission is to capture all the wonderful, inspiring, clever hacks and ideas for our much loved IKEA items".

8 Responses to DIY Dorothy Draper Chests

Love the Dorothy Draper look – I am inspired! Also, I noticed the same dresser/chest that you are using as your model in the current edition of Decor – The Most Georgeous Rooms Ever – page 57 – now on newsstands. Lovely! Black & gold are so classic. I have ideas I want to try too……..Love your blog. Esp. your consoles blog – they make me drool…

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